The Click and the Cluck of it all ....

Jeff, my roommate in LA, was the first one that pointed it out. “What is that funny sound you make Shwetyy?”. Each time he offered me his canned tuna, I retorted with a “Cluck”. “Cluck” is a non-verbose refusal. A ‘no’ said in sound. Touch the tip of your tongue to the palate, just under the upper teeth and then release a sound sideways - that what sounds, is “Cluck”! For years, Desi’s like me, have used “Cluck’s” to express our rejection; sometimes unknowingly so. It comes so naturally to us. It’s as if saying ‘No’ would exercise too many oral muscles, that we spare our tongues the stress and simply resort to ‘Cluck”. It does the job as effectively and for once you didn’t really say ‘No’ to anything. It probably started off when you were busy doing something and Mom came to ask you to clean your cupboard. Or run an errand. Or ask you what you’d like to eat for dinner. That is when you ‘clucked’ her away. Yes, the same sound as when a farmer shoos away a dog or tightens the rein on his horse, wanting to move on. Sad is'nt it then, that's how much for granted we take our parents sometimes? But that's a blog post for some other time.
Sometimes I’ve “clucked” people and at others got “clucked off” by them. It may sound disrespectful but it’s as much a part of the Indian vocabulary as is ‘Haan’ or ‘Nahi’. You won’t be able to “cluck” for long, without having a tongue ache. Try it. Guess that is so you don’t end up saying ‘No’ to everything.
‘Cluck” is just one of the many sounds we used while growing up. There was a ‘Tok’, that the guys in the building used, every time they beckoned each other, from their respective homes. ‘Tok’ occurs when you flutter your tongue up and down, to produce a loud hollow sound. And then of course there was the “pucchuk” – a sound made when one puckered their lips together, sort of like a goldfish, as if to kiss, but instead just letting out a sound instead. Despite its vagueness and lack of reference, a person somehow always knew, when they were being “pucchuked”.
Most of the times the “clucck’s” “tok’s and “pucchuk’s” were used to deceive the parents, who were clueless that it was their kid being called out to play, during homework hour. Ah! The pleasure of deceptive innocence. Completely excusable and allowed.
I don’t hear “Tok’s” and “Pucchuk’s” anymore. Maybe because I don’t live in a context where they are used anymore. But I do give people the occasional “cluck” at times, inadvertently, out of habit. Most don’t get it. Some others probably think I have a weird oral sound-making disease. But once in a while, I come across the rare soul, who gets it and smiles. And that is when I hear the “Click” in return!